What Makes a Great Bar?

Punch 

Grind

I talk about lighting a lot. Even a beautiful space with a mixture of textures and a variety of spaces will shine brighter with well thought out lighting. Lighting that does not simply illuminate but creates an ambience we crave after a long day, a place we can see but there is still an air of mystery. Lighting that is sculptural, an art form in itself.  

I was at a work function recently in a newly opened Italian restaurant, I was seriously impressed with the direction of restaurant design. Bar and restaurant design in Melbourne is generally clean, bright and Danish inspired with a mixture of blond wood and white marble. The restaurant I ate in had an inviting mixtures of architectural detailing, dark walls and ambient lighting. The lighting so well designed it was sexy. 

Regardless of wanting a daytime space or a moody evening hangout, its important to play with hard and soft textures. What I mean by this is the use of velvet vs wood and metal vs marble/tiles. Too much wood makes the space country cabin like so you need to pair the space with a very classical lighting design unless you want to recreate an urban log cabin.